


Affinity

by AnonymousOnce93



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Best Friends, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Psychic Abilities, Psychic Bond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:00:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21591916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonymousOnce93/pseuds/AnonymousOnce93
Summary: "Hirai Momo had always felt different. Her family had always talked about how she was special—gifted—but she never really saw it that way.It wasn’t until she was thirteen years old that she realized why she felt so different."--Psychic Momo AU
Relationships: Hirai Momo & Yoo Jeongyeon
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Alternatively titled MomoPsycho100 by my sisters.

Hirai Momo had always felt different. Her family had always talked about how she was special—gifted—but she never really saw it that way. 

It wasn’t until she was thirteen years old that she realized why she felt so different. 

_ The world was spinning around her as she ran towards the bleachers, holding a hand to her head. When she pulled her fingers away, she was shocked at the amount of blood on her hand.  _

_ She briefly remembered hearing her father tell her that head wounds tend to bleed more.  _

_ She couldn’t speak—not for lack of trying of course—so she sat behind the metal bleachers—overwhelmed by the smell of old gum and sweaty gym socks—and cried. She was in pain, and she was scared, and she couldn’t understand why she felt such a complete and total sensory overload.  _

_ She held her head while she rocked back and forth, hoping and praying that the bleeding would stop. She needed to go to the infirmary, but she didn’t want to go alone, and was much too scared to ask one of her classmates, so she continued to cry alone.  _

_ When a number of her classmates suddenly head to the nurse’s office with mysterious symptoms—two nosebleeds, one panic attack and three splitting headaches—she knows that it’s her fault. She can’t explain why of course, but she knows.  _

_ She caused this. _

_ She was fifteen when she started reading minds. It was agonizing, uncontrollable, and nothing like the comic books and manga that she held dear. Her mind was constantly filled with the thoughts of everyone around her—a cacophony of voices, none of them her own—and it was exhausting.  _

_ As she matured, it became easier for her to turn down the constant flow of outside thoughts filling her brain, though they were never fully gone.  _

_ Eventually she discovered that her telepathic projections were directly connected to her strong emotions, it was easier to keep herself from projecting to those around her. It simply meant that she had to keep her emotions under control at all times.  _

_ When she is eliminated from Sixteen, she loses control for just a brief moment, and the entire studio is filled with agony. _

…

_ ~Stop! Wake up! Come on Jeongyeon, wake yourself up! Come on pabo, it’s just a dream.~  _ Momo was pulled out of sleep by Jeongyeon’s silent cries. 

She tries her best to not read her sister’s minds—honoring their privacy at the cost of her own mental exhaustion—but there were times when the thoughts were too loud to tune out. 

Momo and Jeongyeon have been roommates for a while now, but Jeongyeon’s sleep paralysis was a new development. 

(If Momo had to guess, she would say the nightmares are caused by exhaustion—their hectic, busy schedule not leaving much down time—but she wasn’t an expert by any means.) 

Momo didn’t like to project her own thoughts to the others, for a number of different reasons. 

For one, it’s tiresome, and she has to focus especially hard to project only the thoughts she wants to share. 

Also, she still hasn’t told any of the members about her abilities. 

(She didn’t mind if they saw her as the slow, absentminded sister. Somehow that was better than thinking she was a freak of nature.) 

_ ~Someone. Anyone. Please make it stop.~  _

Jeongyeon’s anguished cries sounded so small and broken in Momo’s mind. 

Momo supposed this bout of sleep paralysis must have been especially traumatic for her older sister. On a normal day, Momo could tune it out like she did the rest of the thoughts she picked up in a day. 

Today, however, Jeongyeon’s unspoken cries were the loudest thing in Momo’s mind. 

Momo sighed, standing up from the bed and crossing the room. 

“Jeongyeon,” She shakes the older girl’s arm. “Wake up, you’re just dreaming.” 

_ ~I can’t...I can’t move.~  _

Momo continues trying to shake Jeongyeon awake, but to no avail. 

Momo closes her eyes, taking in a deep breath, hoping she has enough focus to help her friend. 

She only hopes her projections don’t make the nightmare worse. 

Silently, she slips into the bed beside Jeongyeon, curling against the older girl’s body. She takes Jeongyeon’s hand and puts it in her own, closing her eyes before trying her best to help. 

~It’s okay, it’s just a dream. You’re okay.~ Momo calls out, trying to reach out to Jeongyeon in the foggy mental space. 

~Momo? Momo I can’t. I can’t move, I...I think I’m gonna die here.~ Momo has never heard Jeongyeon this panicked. 

~Shh, calm down,~ Momo focuses harder, trying her best to clear the fog. ~I’m right here. Just come towards my voice, okay?~ 

Finally, Momo is able to see clearly in the fog, and she is surprised to see a much younger Jeongyeon, curled up on herself, rocking back and forth. She walks towards her, reaching out. 

~Hey, I’m here, it’s Momo.~ Momo sits down, wrapping her arms around the small girl. ~Just breathe. It’s not real, but  _ I’m _ real okay? I’m here.~

After a few minutes, the fog clears entirely, and Jeongyeon disappears from Momo’s arms. 

Momo has only done this extensive of projection twice before—both times with her sister—and she recognized this for what it was. Jeongyeon had gone into REM sleep, a place where her nightmares wouldn’t reach her. 

Momo’s eyes snap open, and she is immediately overwhelmed by the loud thoughts of the seven other members. She focuses for a moment, trying to tune them out one by one. 

When they are all gone, she immediately falls asleep, her fingers still laced together with Jeongyeon’s. 

…

The morning comes early and Momo catches herself as she nearly falls from the bed, not realizing how close she was to the side of the mattress. 

She couldn’t help but hear a soft, sleepy chuckle come from Jeongyeon. 

“Nice one,” Jeongyeon smiled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. 

Momo had hoped to slip out of the bed as unnoticed as she had gotten into it. 

“Sorry,” Momo slides out of the bed, pulling down her tank top and walking back to her own bed. 

Neither of them spoke for a while, and Momo had almost fallen back asleep when she is startled back awake by Jeongyeon’s voice. 

“When were you going to tell me?” 

“What?” Momo asks, not entirely sure what Jeongyeon was implying. 

“When were you going to tell me that you are telepathic?” Momo is stunned silent as Jeongyeon asks the question like it’s the most nonchalant thing she's ever asked.


	2. Chapter 2

The dorm was empty, most of the members were elsewhere—finally getting a break after an incredibly long period of promotions—Momo however, had returned to the dorm, unable to fit a trip home to Japan in her schedule, even without promotions on the calendar. 

Jeongyeon had also opted to stay at the dorm, as her family happened to be incredibly busy on her week of break. 

Jeongyeon walked into Momo and her shared bedroom, only to notice Momo laying on their bed, cradling her head between her arms, brow furrowed. 

“Tough day?” Jeongyeon asked, unconsciously tossing Momo the bottle of ibuprofen that had been left on the dresser. 

“Yeah,” Momo groaned, taking out two of the tablets and taking them with a swig from the half empty bottle of water on the side table. “It’s harder sometimes, when the dorm is empty. I’m kinda tuned into all of you guys,” Momo gestures back and forth with her hands near her temples, unsure of what Korean word would accurately describe the concept of psychic wavelength. “I’m always having to not project or read thoughts, but when you guys are gone it’s like my brain is still looking for those signals.” 

Jeongyeon had known about Momo’s abilities for years now. The two of them had bonded after the first time Momo reached out to project her own thoughts, and they’d shared somewhat of a psychic connection ever since. Momo would never project or read Jeongyeon’s thoughts without permission of course, but there was still  _ something _ —intangible and incredibly confusing—that was tethering them to each other. 

“Is there anything I can do to make it better?” Jeongyeon asked, crawling onto her side of the bed. 

“No. The only thing that would make it stop is if I stopped controlling my abilities for a bit,” Momo said, rolling her eyes. 

Obviously Momo wasn’t going to do  _ that _ . 

“Why don’t you then?” Jeongyeon asked, brows furrowed in concern. “If it will help you feel better…” Jeongyeon trailed off. 

Momo shook her head in opposition, forgetting just how much her head was killing her, but quickly remembering the second her brain started pounding like it was trying to escape her skull. She rubbed her temples again, trying to refocus herself. 

“I can’t do that, unnie.” 

If she let go while Jeongyeon was here with her…

Actually, she wasn’t really sure what would happen—the only times she’d ever fully stopped controlling her abilities had been for short periods of time, and she’d been alone—But she still didn’t want to risk anything happening to Jeongyeon, or god forbid she wasn’t able to turn back on her mental defenses. 

“Then I’ll leave, so you can have the dorm to yourself,” Jeongyeon moved to get off of the bed, but Momo’s firm grasp stopped her. 

“No,” Momo’s big brown eyes pleaded, “I don’t want to be alone.”

“And  _ I _ don’t want you to suffer this whole week,” Jeongyeon rebutted, repositioning herself on the bed. “Painkillers aren’t meant to stop psychic headaches anyways,” Jeongyeon chuckled, playfully nudging Momo’s shoulder, forcing a shy, pained smile to cross Momo’s lips. 

“I’m just scared,” Momo replied, ignoring the taste of blood as she chewed on the corner of her lip. “I don’t want to hurt you.” 

“You aren’t going to,” Jeongyeon laced her fingers with Momo’s, rubbing the younger girls’ knuckles in a comforting motion. “It’ll be okay, I trust you Momo-yah.” 

Momo sighed, closing her eyes. 

One by one she mentally retracted the tethers to the others in the group, including the one preventing her from reading Jeongyeon’s thoughts. 

Momo breathed in sharply, trying not to be overwhelmed by the instant flood of mental energy radiating from the girl holding her hand. 

It wasn’t like reading a book, or even hearing someone speak. Yes, she could hear Jeongyeon’s thoughts, her complex inner monologue, but she could also she could hear the song that had been stuck in Jeongyeon’s head for two days now, she could smell what the room smelt like to Jeongyeon, feel the sensation of her own hand being held. 

“You okay?” Jeongyeon asked, unmoving. 

“Mmhmm,” Momo nodded, “It just takes a second to get used to,” Momo closed her eyes again, focusing now on retracting the strongest tether she had—the one that required the most mental energy—the mental block that she used to stop herself from projecting her own thoughts. 

Momo felt instant relief from her pounding headache as she let herself relax, fully letting down that defense for the first time in as long as she could remember. 

Jeongyeon gasped, taken aback by the strong connection she felt with the younger girl, overwhelmed at how she could suddenly feel what Momo was feeling, hear what she was thinking, but also experience the world as Momo did for just a brief minute of time. 

“Are you alright?” Momo asked, and Jeongyeon wasn’t sure if it was audible or a mental projection. 

Jeongyeon didn’t respond directly, taking in this new world for just a minute longer, feeling the emotions that Momo felt, listening in as she translated words in her head from Japanese to Korean the best she could, hearing her insecurities, and wondering what Jeongyeon must think of Momo in this moment. 

Jeongyeon doesn’t understand all of the Japanese words she hears running through Momo’s head, but she knows this feeling all too well. 

Momo is  _ afraid _ . 

_ ~This was a huge mistake. She thinks I’m a freak. Way to go, pabo.~ _

“Daebak,” Jeongyeon spoke aloud, breaking the not-so-quiet silence between them. “You’re beautiful, you know that right? And just...daebak.”

Jeongyeon wonders to herself if this is what Momo feels all the time, if she ever gets used to the rush of emotions and sensations and— 

“Not really,” Momo responds audibly, “But just imagine having to tune this out times ten at all times.” 

“It must be exhausting,” Jeongyeon reaches up, gently brushing the hair away from Momo’s eyes, noticing the crystal tears forming in the corners of her tired eyes. 

“It is,” She breathes in deeply, finally relaxing into the very much exposing form of intimacy. “You know what’s funny though,” Momo chuckles softly, a sort of half sob, half laugh escaping her lips. “I think this is the first time someone’s read  _ my _ mind.” 

Jeongyeon smiled, her own eyes blurry with tears, which she wasn’t actually sure were cause by her own emotions. 

“I mean, I’ve projected with people, but that’s only a fraction of my abilities whenever I do. I honestly can’t remember the last time I was able to just  _ relax _ ,” 

“Then let’s just lay here,” Jeongyeon says, bringing in Momo closer, embracing her gently. “We don’t have to say anything, and we don’t have to try to communicate or anything. Let’s just lay here.” 

Momo nods, bringing herself closer against Jeongyeon’s body, relaxing at the comforting feeling of just being  _ held _ . 

Momo can’t help but worry that Jeongyeon is going to get overwhelmed by their psychic link, but before she even has a chance to express this—or even debate within herself if she’s going to say anything at all—Jeongyeon responds. 

“I’m okay Moguri,” Jeongyeon sighs, “When your headache is completely gone, and you’re ready to have your own headspace again, I’ll leave or whatever for a bit so you can, I don’t know,  _ reset _ ,” 

Thankfully, since the two of them are linked, Momo understands that Jeongyeon isn’t rejecting her or pushing her away, merely offering her a brief time to put back up her defenses. 

After a period of peaceful silence between the two, Momo speaks up. 

“Unnie,” Momo’s voice is soft, nearly inaudible, and Jeongyeon turns her head to lock eyes with the Japanese girl. 

Momo doesn’t finish her sentence. 

She doesn’t have to. Jeongyeon feels her overwhelming gratefulness, her deep familial love, this special indescribable connection that they have. 

Jeongyeon  _ knows _ she’s Momo’s best friend. 

Her  _ person _ . 

Her  _ sister _ . 

She knows this more now than she ever has before, with more certainty than anything she’s ever known anything in this world. 

She can only hope that Momo knows that she feels the exact same way too.

A small, barely-there, smile reaches the corner of Momo’s lips. 

She knows. 

Of course she knows. 

**Author's Note:**

> Once upon a time, me and my sister were joking about how Momo and Jeongyeon share a psychic link, and that's why they can understand each other so well. Inspired by this clip (https://youtu.be/hDKHQXPX5LQ?t=230)


End file.
